Increasing urban sprawl throughout Western Europe is giving rise to more and more areas characterized by a diffuse urbanization or urban network. In After Sprawl, the Brussels-based firm of Xaveer de Geyter Architects examines this phenomenon by focusing on six such areas: London, England; Randstad, Holland; Brussels-Antwerp-Ghent, Belgium; the Ruhr area, Germany; Zurich-Basle, Switzerland; and the Veneto region, Italy. Their research distills a method for analysing the spatial hallmarks of today's city, replacing old urban strategies with new methodologies appropriate to the new questions being raised by these new types of cities. With a modest batch of projects to their name, Xaveer de Geyter Architects have amassed an international reputation for unpretentious architecture and urban design born of a discerning and radical strategy. De Geyter himself is noted for his longterm practice with OMA, the office of Rem Koolhaas.

A unique overview of the projects of Xaveer De Geyter Architects.

What makes a city? What makes architecture? And, what is to be included in the discussions of architecture and the city? Attempting to answer such ambitious questions, this book starts from a city’s specificity and complexity. In response to recent debates in architectural theory around the agency and locus of critical action, this book tests the potential of criticality through-practice. Rather than through conceptual and ideological categorisations, it studies how architecture and criticality work within specific circumstances. Brussels, a complex city with a turbulent architectural and urban past, forms a compelling case for examining the tensions between urban politics, architectural imaginations, society’s needs and desires, and the city’s history and fabric. Inspired by pragmatist-relational philosophies, this book tests the potential of criticality through-practice. It studies a series of critical actions and tools, which occurred in Brussels’ architectural and urban culture after 1968. Weaved together, Brussels architectural production emerges from a variety of actors, including architects, urban policy makers, activists, social workers, and citizens, but also architectural movements and ideologies, urban renewal programs, urban traumas, plans and projects, and mundane everyday practices and constructions. This book contributes to the study of Brussels and offers a timely contribution to recent scholarship on the critical reappraisal of architectural debates from the 1960s through to the 1990s. In addition, by showing how pragmatist-relational philosophies can be made relevant for architectural theory, the book opens hopeful potentials for how architectural theory can better contribute to the formulation of a critical agenda for architecture.

This volume offers both an introduction to and an insight into key contemporary architects as well as giving a snapshot of the varied nature of architecture today. For each architect there are details of their life and work and illustrations of their most representative and iconic buildings.

Der Open Call in Flandern (dem flämischsprachigen, nördlichen Teil Belgiens) ist mehr als nur ein weiterer Architekturwettbewerb: Jede Behörde oder öffentliche Einrichtung kann sich bei jedem Bauprojekt für einen Open Call entscheiden. Seit seiner Einführung durch den ersten Vlaams Bouwmeester bOb van Reeth im Jahr 2000 wurden mehr als 700 Bauaufgaben auf diese Weise ausgeschrieben und davon knapp 350 öffentliche Architektur- und Infrastrukturprojekte realisiert. Es ist an der Zeit, das Verfahren, seine Funktionsweise und die Resonanz, die es erfährt, ausführlich zu betrachten. Darüber hinaus ist die Beschäftigung mit der außergewöhnlichen Architektur öffentlicher Bauten in Flandern längst überfällig, bedenkt man ihren Vorbildcharakter für andere Länder. Celebrating Public Architecture dokumentiert anhand von 70 Beispielen aus ganz Flandern die erstaunlich hohe Qualität dieser Projekte. Die gebauten Beispiele zeigen eindrucksvoll, dass öffentliche Architektur tatsächlich zum Nachdenken anzuregen vermag und gleichzeitig gewagt, gemeinnützig und gut gemacht sein kann. Mit Bauten von 51N4E, Bovenbouw Architectuur, Dierendonckblancke, Zaha Hadid, KAAN, Maxwan, Hideyuki Nakayama, Ney & Partner, noAarchitecten, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, RCR Arquitectes, Robbrecht en Daem, Sergison Bates, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Xaveer de Geyter und anderen

"This book looks at twenty-six houses by an international roster of contemporary architects"--P. [4] of cover.